


Traitor's Sting

by taichara



Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:11:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2221821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The confrontation in Virgo Temple, after Shaka's death, goes about as well as could be expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traitor's Sting

**Author's Note:**

> _prompt: any, any, don't make me destroy you_

A wave of dread raced down Camus’ spine like white-cold lightning, and little did it have to do with the lightning plasma of the angry Lion who barred their way back into Virgo Temple and, from there, their path up Sanctuary’s holy mount. 

Cold, cold … more frozen than his own icy Cosmo, colder than death itself. 

Let Aioria rage and thunder, the Water-Bearer could not care less – let Mu chastise him, decry their actions (as if Camus, as if they all, were not aware of the blood on his soul), heard ghostlike though his sense were all but obliterated – it did not matter. It did not matter! Only their desperate mission was of concern, that and the relentless ticking of the clock over their wretched revenant existence.

Another wave of dread; Camus could feel it, could feel him. He was coming closer, Temple abandoned. There was no mistaking him, no mistaking that wave of scarlet passion-hot power that raced down the Holy Mount and promised agony and death. Though sightless, mute, Camus squeezed dead eyes closed, clamped his jaws on the silent cry that threatened to escape before all was lost –

_~Do not fail us now, Camus. We are so close, and we must kill all who attempt to bar our way.~_

Saga’s mind-voice was deep, bottomless, gentle … and as relentless as a hammerblow.

_~You are already dead, Aquarius Saint. Fulfil your duty, or I shall force your hand; I will not enjoy it, but it will be done. We must not fail.~_

The burning of Milo’s Cosmo came faster, roared higher; dead blood seeped through Camus’ fists, scattered across the ancient flagstones of the Temple, frozen before the droplets struck the stones. Dead eyes glinted like bloody ice rimmed in diamond, and Camus gathered his tattered power to himself – they must not fail, no matter the cost –

The world exploded with scarlet agony before he could so much as twitch.

-*-

_How? How?! How dare – how could –_

How could they betray Athena? How did they stand there at all – chalk-fleshed puppets, broken, bleeding, stubborn to the last … Roaring outrage, Milo struck again, a thousand phantom barbs of agony scoring revenant flesh – ignoring Mu’s protests, ignoring Aioria’s outbursts – how, how, _how_ –

With words and Cosmo he scoured the traitors to their knees; but his deepest rage he shared with one alone, that wraith in chalk white and ruby and shattered black adamant that dared, that dared to be, to think it was …

Snarling, teardrops like poison jewels threatening, Milo stalked down the broad hall of Virgo Temple to seize Camus by the throat.

_~Tell me why. Tell me why I shouldn’t end you here, traitor.~_

Bloody hands clawed at his arm, left frostburn behind on the golden vambrace; he did not notice, did not feel it, did not care as he stared into those blind red eyes.

_~I stood for you. I took the Swan for you. Not for him, for you.~  
~I mourned you. For months, more than a year, I’ve grieved. And you –  you –~_

His grip tightened; his free hand drew back, twisted clawlike as his Cosmo coiled into a perfect coil of toxic death, a single point so dense with power that Camus felt it hot against his chill and numbed flesh.

_~… We will …~_

Hard, it was so hard; then Saga’s will crushed the Water-Bearer like an avalanche, provoking a single icy barb of retaliation towards the Twin Saint’s mind. Stay out of this, Saga; stay away.

_~We_ _will reach Athena, Milo. We must. We cannot, will not fail in this.~_  
 _~And for this we will – we have sacrificed everything.~_  
 _~I have thrown away my honour already, Milo. Will you try to strike down the dead?~_

_~Camus --!!~_

The Scorpion’s response was lost, obliterated, in his dodge to escape Saga’s desperate strike, and Camus found himself tossed away sidewise like a broken discarded doll. He scraped across the flagstones, choking bloody froth … and then there was no time left for them.

The challenge was made, three against three.

There was no escape.


End file.
